Todd Witteles dropped the world’s least surprising bomb on October 2, 2020. Since then, Postlegate has been in a period of great movement but little action.
October 2nd was the date that Witteles tweeted, “Mike Postle is suing me.” He also listed his numerous co-defendants. Postle was charging everyone from Veronica Brill to ESPN with defamation. On top of that, he was asking for $300+ million in damages.
Now Witteles is slapping — or perhaps SLAPP-ing — back at the alleged cheat. Witteles tweeted today: “Mike Postle filed a lawsuit against me through a Beverly Hills law firm. Now I've got a Beverly Hills firm of my own defending me."
We’re beginning to see momentum building in the story again.
The Bensamochan Firm of Beverly Hills
Witteles is the first defendant to confirm that he’s got a lawyer.
In a press briefing sent out by that lawyer's firm, the organization stated that “one defendant [in the Postle case], Professional Poker Player and WSOP bracelet winner Todd Witteles has hired his own Beverly Hills Firm to defend him. The Bensamochan Firm of Beverly Hills is now counsel to Mr. Witelles [sic].”
Bensamochan is primarily a bankruptcy firm (which might not bode well). But they do also deal with Civil and “Cannabis” litigation. So this is not entirely out of their wheelhouse.
Other defendants in the case have also been mobilizing. But as this is an active case, they have been understandably tight-lipped on the details of their defenses.
Putting the pieces together
Veronica Brill set about crowdfunding her defense. She raised $25k in a matter of hours. Bill Perkins offered to throw additional money at the problem.
Behind the scenes, Brill and Matt Berkey (also named as a defendant in Postle’s suit) have put their heads together. They are looking to make the case about far more than just putting Postle back in his place.
Brill tweeted, “[Berkey] and I are going to try to set a precedence within the poker community. Whistleblowers should be free to voice their concerns without being bullied and sued. Media should be allowed to report on issues without being bullied and sued."
Her three-part Tweet series ended with the simple declaration of war: “I call.”
Other players seem to be taking it in their stride.
Negreanu seemed almost casual when he said to an interviewer, “It’s hard to take this guy seriously. He has cojones. I’ll give him that much. Imagine 100 top scientists looking at data and all coming to the same conclusion. [...] In this case, all the top poker experts in the field of poker unanimously agree. With no room for any doubt whatsoever.”
He may be right. Eric Bensamochan certainly thinks so.
Bensamochan said of Postle’s suit that he believes "this lawsuit against [Witteles] and the other defendants is utterly without merit and will be defended vigorously and aggressively. Any attempt to chill the first amendment rights of any individual or organization needs to be met with resistance."
Fighting words. We’ll see if the lawyer can live up to them as the case progresses.
